Dorothy, Arkado’s niece, came to visit and left money for a goat and a crate of soda for an Easter celebration. This week we bought a goat and had a party. Dorothy has been helping her uncle for many years. She aided him in his work with the pigmy people of the Central African Republic, a very dangerous place these days. An SMA mission, staffed by Arkado’s missionary society, was recently attacked. The missionaries and medical volunteers were chased away. More recently, Dorothy helped at his mission not far from the town of Arusha.

Food has not proved to be a problem for our European visitor. She has tucked into our cooking without complaint, if not with relish. Since my recent acquisition of a used frig powered by bottled gas, we buy some goat legs at the twice-monthly cattle market here in Olbalbal. On Sunday and Wednesday, we have goat and rice. On other days it’s beans and “ugali”, a stiff porridge made from cornflower and water. Dorothy arrived with some wonderful polish sausage that we have been enjoying also. I am especially fortunate in that my sister Martha and my sister -in-laaw Sharon send me a care packages from time to time. They provide goodies that make a welcome change from our somewhat monotonous fare.

Dorothy speaks only Polish and has no Swahili or English. Despite that handicap, she seemed to communicate well with the people here, especially the children. Her day job is at a desk at an insurance agency in the city of Warsaw. She takes the bus and subway to work each day, so life here at Olbalbal was quite a change. Here are some pictures taken at our goat roast.